Welcome to the fourth part of the first The Exquisite Corpse of 2019, hosted by @gardengnomepubs

There are six writers who each are writing a part of the story. None of us know what is coming - there is no plan - so we have to react to what has been written by the writer before us. The six writers are @blockurator, @fromage, @felt.buzz, @blueeyes8960, @stever82, and @sarez. Writing in that order.

Please read the first three parts, firstly, to make sure you know what is happening, and, secondly, because they are bloody brilliant!

Part one by @blockurator

Part two by @fromage

Part three by @felt.buzz

If you have read them and just want a reminder, here is a brief summary:

Our hero has witnessed something odd, a transformation of beauty into something else, something ugly, weird and disturbing. When things start exploding, he runs. People seem to know who he is, but he isn’t so sure. He witnesses a woman kill an old time cop. Is she a threat? He’s having a bad day, and decides there is only one way to escape. Having been rebooted back to the real world, he is again contacted by the mysterious woman in a "matter of life and death"...*

The Discussion - Part 4

Pugnacia. Wasn’t that the name of that chick in the petticoat I met in my last Dreem sequence? The one that offed the cop in that old fashioned uniform? HOW and WHY would she be calling me?

Walking and thinking I headed toward home. I wasn’t ready yet to message her back. I was still puzzling over how she knew my real name, when I’d only met her in a Dreem. And she wasn’t even a part of MY Dreem. Her and that cop had obviously been in the middle of one of those hideously expensive RPG games. Our VR worlds had somehow intersected. In the three seasons I’d been running my show, this had never happened. It was unusual, yes, but I could hardly see how it would a life and death matter.

I climbed the steps to my only slightly above poverty level apartment. The door was ajar; not a good sign since I knew I’d locked it behind me that morning. It was just this morning, wasn’t it? I called the timekeeping program up (ding, another .0001 Steem charged to my account) and was horrified to see the date was April 2nd. WTF! I’d been in the last episode for FOUR DAYS! My mind reeling, I opened the door to an empty apartment. The damn slum lord had evicted me and sold everything, probably on SteemMarket for next to nothing. My biggest regret at the moment was that bottle of whiskey I’d been looking forward to.

I turned to walk back out of my now former apartment and saw a memo cube stuck to the door. Probably the asshole telling me I still owed him some Steem even after he auctioned off all my possessions. I grabbed the cube and was in the motion of throwing it through the grimy window when some inner voice stopped me. Instead I pressed the microchip switch to “on” and set the cube on the floor.

A hologram formed from the cube and greeted me, “Hello, Cheese, I was afraid you wouldn’t return my message, so I took the liberty of leaving you the cube.”

“It’s Cheeze” I said automatically, my mind trying to grasp what the hell was going on.

Pugnacia Arabesque’s VR form solidified out of the holographic image and stepped forward with her hand out. “We never had time for a formal introduction earlier before you dramatically threw yourself off that ledge. I was just about to explain to you our dire situation when you abruptly ended your program, leaving me no chance to talk to you.”

“What dire situation are we in, and why would we be in it together? I’m just a poor Dreemer trying to scratch out a few Steem and you’re an Orca VR player. Different worlds, sweetheart.”

Pugnacia paced around waving her hands. “I don’t have much time here before the cube’s cell runs out, so listen up. Your company, DreemVision, is trying to hijack the blockchain. They’ve gained access to my VR company’s front end application and they’re planning on a takeover. If that happens they’ll have over 80% of the SteemPower and leverage against all the Witnesses. Their plan is to siphon off all the rewards and leave the masses to starve to death.”

Well I certainly wouldn’t put it past that money grubbing DreemVision, but I still didn’t know what it had to do with me. “And just how do you think I’m going to be useful in stopping this carnage? I’m not a programmer and I don’t know anything about the front end application.”

Pug stopped and favored me with a smile. I never noticed how hot she was until she smiled. I felt that familiar stirring but before it could become obvious, I received a zap in the groin. (Ding - account fined 1.0 Steem, inappropriate behavior). Damn that DreemVision programing!

“The AI from our program selected you,” she explained. “That’s why we met up in my VR game. I was supposed to recruit you, and then you escaped out of the program. We’re wasting time now. You need to get down to our headquarters in Shytown and our programmers will insert you in my game. Together we’re supposed to follow your link back into DreemVision’s programming. They’re expecting you, so get going. I’ll be waiting on the rooftop where you jumped.”

Pug faded into nothing as the cube powered down. A mechanical voice came from the cube: Please clear the area, destruction in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 - and in a tiny burst of light the cube was gone.

This was all too weird for words. I just didn’t understand what my role was in all of this. But what the hell, I have no apartment, no possessions, a crappy job, and a broke Steem account. And I’m tired of busting my ass for DreemVision and having nothing to show for it. Maybe it was time to be a hero for a change.

I called up the map app (ding...account charged .05 Steem) and saw that the HQ was a good twenty five miles away. I stood at the curb estimating the cost of an AutoBoard, my cheapest option, and knew I didn’t have enough balance. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding - the sound of upvotes hitting my account sounded like a machine gun rattling off. What the fuck? My balance was going up like a hot air balloon. And then - the sound I’d only ever read about - that golden tone indicating that maximum balance had been reached. Holy shit! Their AI must be tapped into the Central Bank.

The Tessla app indicated that my TessT2Autopod would be arriving in 2 minutes. I waited for the familiar ding to tell me how much my account was being debited. Just out of curiosity because I certainly had no idea what one of those snazzy transports would cost. Ding - no charge. What? I could get used to this!

A burnt orange pod landed in front of me and the side hatch slid open.

[credit@EdibleCthulhu]